Wholeness

Deviant

These resources have made me reflect deeply on how our ableist society fears and punishes ‘bodies that deviate’. But if ‘normal’ is only possible because something is understood as ‘abnormal’ (Michael Warner, 1999), then surely this myth of ‘normal’ should be the focus of our deepest critique (McRuer, 2006).

I’ve been learning that in many pre-colonial contact communities, words for sick or disabled people described their gifts not their defects (qwo-li driskill, 2005). Ade Adepitan calls for a change to the language we use around disability, (neurospicy* my new favourite example), and as bell hooks reminds us – language will both liberate and oppress (hooks, 1989).

Segregation

Kimberlé Crenshaw’s theory of intersectionality, describes how compounded forms of discrimination occur when people hold multiple marginalised identities. I feel that ablism has side-lined disability from this debate, which can appear most commonly framed around race, class, or gender.

It was 1955 when Rosa Parks started a revolution after quietly refusing to give up her bus seat. Yet, Nick Webborn reminds us this “segregation by design” is happening to disabled bodies on public transport nearly 60 years later. See also Anne Wafula Strike’s experience.

The Disability Justice movement (Sins Invalid, 2005) is moving with tenderness and grit up some steep hills. Disability rights are still seen by our leaders as a single-issue space, overlooking white privilege, less visible disabilities, intersectionality, and the radical role of love.

To be seen

Abe’s visible intersecting identities means he experiences “discrimination from all angles” while Chay Brown describes his intersecting identities** as mainly invisible which affords him a certain privilege, but leaves him needing to persistently verbalise his unique and intimate unseen needs.

At the end of her film Christine Sun Kim addresses an art gallery audience, and asks:
“I want deaf lives to be in your mind… If you don’t see us, we have no place to be”.

She appears to have lived her life asking to be seen as an artist, mother, and person who cannot hear. Her life, as she describes, experienced as a series of echoes.

U(nequivocal) A(bsolute) L(ove)

The UAL EDI Annual report fails to help us see data intersectionally. While it is encouraging to see students with declared disabilities attaining at higher levels last year, is this the case consistently? What influence is race, gender, or financial security having on this perceived success? Similarly, I am curious about the attainment gap for students of colour. Attainment of Asian students fell 7ppt, black students fell by 5ppt. Again, it is essential to know which other intersecting factors are involved here to help leadership design more relevant and appropriate strategies for change.

I know from first-hand experience that no student arrives at UAL with single issue lives. And most of this is invisible. This makes our work complex because we have to notice, delve, listen deeply and learn openly. We also need to admit to our fallibility***. But I do also see this collective duty of care to each other as a rich, creative, and astonishing privilege.

So how might we radically re-organise UAL around some principles of Care:

1. Question who is making the decisions, and from what positionality.
2. Eradicate any concept of “normal” from our policies
3. Listen to understand each other, practice deeper interconnection and awareness.
4. Learn BSL and have compulsory Disability Justice training
5. Learn bravely, welcome feedback, apologise and repair.